Using guitar effects on a bass...

Welease

Do many folks do this?

Being a guitarist for many many years I have plenty of rack and floor effects for the guitar, but none for my bass..
While recording recently, I have found my pick style on the bass can be a tad abrasive on a clean signal. I have started using an old Boss BE-5 guitar multi effects unit to process the sound a little (unit has Distortion, Overdrive, Chorus, Digital Delay, Noisegate and Compressor built in).

To my ears it sounds like the sound loses some of the lower frequencies, but my hearing is not so great nowadays. So i was wondering is it just me, or would that be an expected result, and I should look to purchasing bass specific effects units...

Darkstrike

Some of them do work, but most cut the low's indeed.

In fact, for some, that just might be the sound they're after.:cool:

Dord

A lot of them cut the low end severely. I'd steer clear of guitar multieffects for use on bass, but single stompboxes can be modified sometimes to work better with bass.

You say that you find your sound "abrasive" while playing with a pick, have you tried using your fingers?

Welease

Thanks for the quick confirmation.. It did sound like the BE-5 was cutting a lot of the low end.. I was playing with my Korg Phaser single pedal (low depth sweep and slow frequency to minimise the effect) and that did take some of the sharpness off the sound, but obviously added a minimal phaser effect which while nice would start to sound a bit samey if used a lot.

I might try it though the rack (just out of interest) and boost the low end with the graphic eq.. but I imagine that is just going to sound like a muddy mess.

Regarding the abrasivesness ... yes, it's down to lack of practise with the fingers on the bass I can pretty much play anything with a plectrum, or using the nails on my right hand, but can only play slower stuff with a four fingered style.. Sadly in 25 years of playing guitar I have never really done any other non plectrum styles.. shame on me

Dord

Welease wrote: »

Regarding the abrasivesness ... yes, it's down to lack of practise with the fingers on the bass I can pretty much play anything with a plectrum, or using the nails on my right hand, but can only play slower stuff with a four fingered style.. Sadly in 25 years of playing guitar I have never really done any other non plectrum styles.. shame on me

You could always start with a little bit at at time to build up your speed and dexterity. That way, once you get up to speed you'll be able to play with a pick or your fingers... so more options when it comes to the bass sound.

red_ice

Welease wrote: »

To my ears it sounds like the sound loses some of the lower frequencies, but my hearing is not so great nowadays. So i was wondering is it just me, or would that be an expected result, and I should look to purchasing bass specific effects units...

Yep, i had that same problem with my rig. Im playing guitar 15 years, the first band i join im playing bass in.. typical. Get an eq pedal and drop out the higher freq's and up the overall. If you higher the low end freq's you distort the sound on a clean signal(dont hold me to that, it could just be my cab, but it works for me). I have a GEB7 (i think it is) and this sorts it out. There are NO good bass distortion/over drive pedals to be got in dublin city... the rat is ok, but nothing special. I've settled on a boss ds2(i think) with the boss eq.. and a soviet muff for fuzz (the us one doesnt cut it).

As far as your tone goes, get a good amp. I have my jazz bass on full attack, its real sharp (with s1 on), and i do all the filling from the amp. I get real picky when it comes to a muddy tone. I love a (sharp)warmth in my sound, im ever so gradually getting there. Mess about with the 1k range to sort your pick out, to my ears that generally where that would fall into.. so if it gets to muddy and you want more definition, up the 1k a smidge... or lower others..